President Obama: Asia Trip Helped Usher in a New Era of American Engagement

Is that another way of saying “Gee thanks for the black belt”?
Obama’s capacity for self delusion seems limitless.

I think Barack gets his big words mixed up. He meant to say:
“…a new era of American appeasement.”
Mmm, mmm mmm
Bow low, Barack Obama

The Chinese want our money and our technology both of which we have blindly and sometimes foolishly given. They will not float their currency, they will keep building massive industrial parks and dorms for the low paid teenage labor that will never, ever be allowed 1/20 the freedom that we experience.
And Barak Obama will never ease the extreme taxation and regulation that prevents our citizens from realizing true independence from a Government that is increasingly in everyones business.

Is this joke of a president delusional?

New era involves kissing you know what so the credit will keep flowing for our economic debacle. We should but out of their business anyway so if a financial collapse gets us to finally stop the threats then so be it.

Just the President taking another bow.

If he had any knowledge of science,which doesn’t ( he never took a science course in college) he would have realized that the hacked University of East Anglia data reveals falsification of data and supression of contradictory data such that the IPCC data and conclusions are suspect, even without the current cooling trend being the obvious monkeywrench to the theory.

We already had great relations with Japan.
Our relations with S Korea are generally good- a little hot and cold, but what Korea really wants is that free trade agreement.
What Obama really brought into a new era was a deference to the Chinese. Clinton and Bush never made excuses for China as Obama did. As for green energy, both China and India may be willing to develop green energy, but their potential for growth is vast, and they aren’t going to put artificial roadblocks in their way.
David, down thread, got it about right.

China holds the pink slip to the US, so Obama was in no position to tell them to do anything yet he’ll gladly give away more jobs to China.

“New ea”, “historical”, “transparency” more BS from Obama. My area has 14% unemployment with no relief in sight. Where are the jobs he promised? What was it? 3 million jobs and 600,000 during the summer? Obama is all talk and no action. Stop wasting our money!!!

Rockford unemployment rate 17.2 percent.
Winnebago county unemployment 15.5 percent.
Illinois unemployment 11 percent.
Obama won by a landslide in Rockford, collecting 36,646 votes or 62 percent.
Obama overwhelmingly won Winnebago County.
Obama won Illinois with an astounding 3,319,237 votes or 61.8 percent.
How’s that Hope and Change think working out, Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois?

I cant believe this guy China had to tell him about economics and that our debt and falling dollar is putting us at risk. They told him that America is no longer needed for them to continue to grow in the economic world. They told him they do not think we can afford the added debt from a health care bill. Yet this guy just doent get it I am a firm believer now that obama and congress are trying to destroy this country.

“I think many of you have short memories…”
Obama ran for President of the United States, warts and all. This is the job he wanted to fulfill his destiny.
He may have come in at a pivotal time but most of his choices, programs and actions since taking office have made things worse, not better.
And, Katie, please, do not throw sand in the sandbox. Insults have no place in debate.

Thanks Obama for restoring America back to the Carter years–but worse than that!
America is broke, indebted to foreign countries, disloyal to allies, soldiers left in limbo, and has a weak and appeasing leader.
Nice new image.

If this was Industry, before BHO heads out, he would be asked for a list of expectations from the trip and afterwards a trip report about achievements.
Are we, the citizens, allowed to ask this from out President? After all, he was the one who touted transparency.

Obama has clearly made the economy far worse than it was on inauguration day, increasing unemployment by nearly half and exploding the deficit.
No wonder Democrat pollster John Zogby finds that only 43% of those who voted in 2008 would vote for Obama today. This presidency has failed in record time.

i guess he was there teling china how we may be the next Zimbabwe if the dollar keeps on path as it is.

Presidential Job Approval Ratings
Approve/Disapprove
49/44 Gallup
47/52 Rasmussen Reports
46/46 FOX News
53/36 CBS News
55/42 CNN/Opinion Research
48/42 Quinnipiac
56/42 ABC News/Wash Post
50.6%/43.4% RCP Average*
*This is the REAL RCP average. Don’t be fooled by Fascist Hyena who cherry-picks his favorite polls, calculates his own average, and then dishonestly tries to pass off his handiwork as the “RCP average.”

What Mr Obama go China need help and dealing for? Please go back home sitdown and just check and look did Mr Obama He ready take small Business Localto local state to other state He dont done yes …How He fix other Please
2010 China will take all over Business
Yes we cant

I hope you have read the article by Robert F Kennedy in the Huffington Post. China is beating is in green technology. Their solar energy companies are out-stripping ours. The same applies to wind technology. Green technology is the economy of the future. The country that dominates the market in green technology will dominate the economic stage for the 21st century.
The GOP is so consumed by their hatred for President Obama, that they want the US to fail. And they want to hand over first place to Red China.

It is Obama’s job to “fix the mess”.
Where are the white collar obs that actual pay?
Chloe

Nidal Malik Hasan was in the military under Bush for YEARS and – despite Bush’s boasting about rooting out terrorists – was allowed to remain in the military.
According to the Washington Post, Hasan made a presentation titled “The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims” in the U.S. Military during his senior year of residency at Walter Reed. The presentation, which was not well received by some attendees, recommended that the Department of Defense “should allow Muslims Soldiers the option of being released as “Conscientious objectors” to increase troop morale and decrease adverse events.”
Again, this presentation was made on GEORGE BUSH’s WATCH (June 2007), not Obama’s.
It seems Mr. Bush – the boastful rooter out of terrorists – missed this.
Lets give credit where credit is due.

And now, praise be to Allah, the entire fraud of man-made global warming has been exposed for exactly what it is. This is from the UK Spectator:
“Data that has been hacked from the Hadley Centre’s Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University – one of the principal academic centres behind anthropogenic global warming theory – appears to reveal an international conspiracy of scientific experts to distort, falsify or suppress evidence in order to exaggerate man-made global warming, and also to vilify AGW sceptics in order to rubbish and bury their own evidence.”
The zanies will scramble to control the damage. They, like the dishonest scientists themselves, have no interest in the truth–theirs is simply a religious belief. Upon learning that the whole “scientific” basis for their alarm is false and fraudulent, they will not heave a sigh of relief. Quite the contrary, they will be infuriated.
And that’s a good thing. They’re even funnier when they’re mad.

A magazine in Tokyo is reporting that President Obama’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama was a frosty disaster, precipitated by incompetence on both sides and an entirely avoidable diplomatic slight to the Japanese side by Obama. The visit was abruptly re-scheduled, seriously inconveniencing the Emperor of Japan, as well as the Prime Minister, whose intricate schedules require meticulous planning and coordination.
Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun cites an unnamed insider at the Foreign Ministry, who delivers a devastating account of not merely a failure to agree, but figurative slaps in the face of the rude president, delivered in retaliation. If true, President Obama has demonstrated high-handed arrogance once again, and antagonized a key ally, weakening a relationship of critical security and economic importance to the United States.

Posted by: Fascist Hyena | Nov 21, 2009 4:10:12 PM
Fascist you really should reference which right wing outlet you’re using to source your propaganda . . . otherwise its’ just more blathering . . .
Have you heard of doing legitimate research, instead of just quoting right wing propaganda machines?

The arch-centrist David Broder, discussing a question in the recent Qinnipiac poll of voters:
“It read: “President Obama has pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our federal budget deficit over the next decade. Do you think that President Obama will be able to keep his promise or do you think that any health care plan that Congress passes and President Obama signs will add to the federal budget deficit?”
The answer: Less than one-fifth of the voters — 19 percent of the sample — think he will keep his word. Nine of 10 Republicans and eight of 10 independents said that whatever passes will add to the torrent of red ink. By a margin of four to three, even Democrats agreed this is likely.
“That fear contributed directly to the fact that, by a 16-point margin, the majority in this poll said they oppose the legislation moving through Congress.
“I have been writing for months that the acid test for this effort lies less in the publicized fight over the public option or the issue of abortion coverage than in the plausibility of its claim to be fiscally responsible.”

“And one guy even seems happy that, if you factor in the polls of ‘adults’ (not just voters), this hapless failure has an approval rating of 50.6%.”
Since when is RCP “one guy” and is RCP really happy?

50.6%/43.4% RCP Average*
Posted by: Numeros | Nov 21, 2009 2:22:17 PM
Great news! Democratic presidency. Democratically controlled House and Senate, media in your pocket, gazillions of dollars to hand out to all your supporters, you’ve apologized to the rest of the world for Bush…
… and after all that for 10 minths running, 43.4% of the country doesn’t approve of the job you’re doing. Now THAT’S really something to be proud of!

Plus you’ve got media ankle-biters from MSNBC like Norah O’Donnell ambushing a 17 year old standing in line for an autograph of Sarah Palin debating politics with her while she holds talking points in her hand because she can’t remember them off the top of her head.
Another proud moment for Norah and MSNBC.
BTW: The 17 year old was awesome!

Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 4:44:22 PM
You just said this about an hour ago.
@Octavia, I saw you yesterday comment about Fascist repeating his posts. Why don’t you mention tierra doing the same? tierra does it constantly every day. Double standard?

Sounds like somebody posts them from some left wing propaganda machine– [ITS BUSHS FAULT].

Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | Nov 21, 2009 5:17:11 PM
This is actually a verbatim Wikipedia entry. The FS non-citation bug must be contagious.

“And out of curiosity, doesn’t the President’s approval rating among Dems and people under 45 or 50 remain high, and among Independents well above 50%?” @Octavia
No.
From Politico three days ago:
“A Gallup Poll released last week offered a disturbing glimpse about the state of play: just 14 percent of independents approve of the job Congress is doing, the lowest figure all year. In just the past few days alone, surveys have shown Democratic incumbents trailing Republicans among independent voters by double-digit margins in competitive statewide contests in places as varied as Connecticut, Ohio and Iowa.
Obama’s own popularity among independents has fallen significantly, too. A CBS News poll Tuesday showed the president’s approval rating among unaligned voters falling to 45 percent — down from 63 percent in April.”

“A CBS News poll Tuesday showed the president’s approval rating among unaligned voters falling to 45 percent — down from 63 percent in April.”
Down nearly 20 percentage points in about 6 months. Very impressive. Even CBS can’t prop up the epic disillusionment among nonaligned voters.

and the job losses have slowed since he took office.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 6:15:05 PM
That’s what happens when you run out of staff to lay off. Expect a refresh in Q1, profit check and continued layoffs, if necessary.
Expect small businesses to continue closing as they get no tax relief and lack of sales continue to drive them out of business.
Expect empty commercial real estate to take it’s toll in 2010 and 2011 as 5 year ARMs reboot and companies cannot refi.
Expect a house-cleaning in November 2010.

and the job losses have slowed since he took office.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 6:15:05 PM
That’s what happens when you run out of staff to lay off. Expect a refresh in Q1, profit check and continued layoffs, if necessary.
________________________________________
Well of course, it is impossible to top the job losses under Bush of 700,000 per month – the economy was pretty much gutted under his watch . . . and nobody says we’re out of it yet.

and the job losses have slowed since he took office.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 6:15:05 PM
Well of course,
Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 6:30:43 PM
I took your comment to mean layoffs were slowing down because of what the Obama administration was doing. It’s a natural progression of layoffs no matter who presides over it: massive, slowing, recheck bottom line, adjust.
Did I misinterpret what you wrote?

I took your comment to mean layoffs were slowing down because of what the Obama administration was doing.
_____________________________________
As I said, it would be hard for the job loss rate to be any worse than what it was under Bush – where it hit 700,000 job losses per month. The economy was pretty much gutted under Bush’s watch.
Since President Obama took office the Dow Jones is up about 35%, the job loss rate has slowed and the GDP has showed positive gains.
And nobody is saying we’re out of it yet. This economic collapse has been global in scope and every western industrialized country is still struggling.

CNN/Opinion Research, which tied with McClatchy for most accurate pollster in the 2008 election outcome, currently has Obama with a 55% approval rating.

It’s not surprising people don’t believe politicians’ financial promises.
The Republicans under George Bush came in promising financial responsibility and small government – and then increased the NATIONAL DEBT by an average of $500 BILLION dollars every year they were in power.
So public skepticism is understandable.
________________________________
Sandy – all figures from the the Bureau of the Public Debt, U.S Department of the Treasury.

What do you think are the reasons for the slowdown in job losses?
___________________________________
Already explained – it would be hard for the job loss rate to be any worse than what it was under Bush – where it hit 700,000 job losses per month. The economy was pretty much gutted under Bush’s watch.
Since President Obama took office the Dow Jones is up about 35%, the job loss rate has slowed and the GDP has showed positive gains.

Posted by: young_voter | Nov 21, 2009 7:26:36 PM
Perhaps young_voter you’re too young to remember that in 2008 the American economy collapsed on George Bush’s watch. By the time he left office the economy was hemorrhaging 700,000 a month, the Dow Jones had crashed, foreclosures and bankruptcies were skyrocketing – the economy was in virtual free fall.
And no – you cannot blame all of that on the current President. Nice try though.
Any improvement from that mess is a blessing to the United States . . . and we are not out of it yet.

Already explained – it would be hard for the job loss rate to be any worse than what it was under Bush – where it hit 700,000 job losses per month. The economy was pretty much gutted under Bush’s watch.
Then you have stated that the Obama administration has done NOTHING to slow down the losses. It is simply that they are running out of people to lay off, which is what I said. Thanks for confirming my analysis.

Then you have stated that the Obama administration has done NOTHING to slow down the losses.
______________________________________
I said nothing of the sort. Read a little slower.
Bye for now . .. take care.

Here is how Rasmussen performed in some very recent elections:
Rasmussen:
46% Christie
43% Corzine
Election Results:
59% Christie
41% Corzine
Rasmussen:
54% McDonnell
41% Deeds
Election Results:
49% McDonnell
45% Deeds

Then you have stated that the Obama administration has done NOTHING to slow down the losses.
______________________________________
I said nothing of the sort. Read a little slower.
Bye for now . .. take care.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 7:42:28 PM
Then you have unknowingly come to the same conclusion that I have: the Obama administration has done NOTHING to slow down the losses.

“An enormous event took place this week in the issue of global warming.  A group of climate skeptics hacked a research center in the U.K. and stole years worth of emails of climate scientists talking candidly about how to deal with skeptics.”
And how do they deal with them? Why, they smear them, slime them, and falsify data, of course.
Say good night, cap-and-trade. It’s over. 

And no – you cannot blame all of that on the current President. Nice try though.
Any improvement from that mess is a blessing to the United States . . . and we are not out of it yet.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 7:34:49 PM
young_voter is not blaming jobs lost during the Bush administration on the current President. The statement indicates that when job info improves he takes the credit; when job info worsens, it’s Bush’s fault. The statement says nothing about jobs lost during the Bush administration.

Obama has done nothing *intelligent* in any area he’s stuck his filthy fingers in.

Obama won the election 53% to 46%. CNN/Opinion Research and Ipsos/McClatchy both nailed it. Rasmussen underestimated Obama by one percentage point at 52% to 46%.
Posted by: Numeros | Nov 21, 2009 7:41:37 PM
You DO realize you are nitpicking over a percent while millions of Americans are looking for work and struggling to pay their mortgages and put food on the table.
It’s a petty issue in my opinion.
Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | Nov 21, 2009 8:54:56 PM
_____________
I was just responding to Sandy’s incorrect claim that Rasmussen has “been correct on all the recent elections.” You are certainly entitled to your opinion however. (Your last name wouldn’t happen to be Rasmussen, would it?)

“Because voter polls give a more accurate picture of the mood of the electorate, they are the most important, and that is why I report them to you.”
That’s fine and dandy, but why do you try to pass off YOUR “reports” as RCP products?

Rasmussen:
54% McDonnell
41% Deeds
Election Results:
59% McDonnell
41% Deeds
Rasmussen:
46% Christie
43% Corzine
Election Results:
49% Christie
45% Corzine
_________________________________
These predictions are only remarkable in how inaccurate they were.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 9:43:07 PM
From Rasmussen’s web site:
“This statewide telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters in New Jersey was conducted by Rasmussen Reports October 29, 2009. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.”
They were not “remarkably” inaccurate at all. With NJ, Rasmussen was within the margin of error. With Virginia, Rasmussen was outside the margin of error by 2% concerning McDonnell.

“That’s fine and dandy, but why do you try to pass off YOUR “reports” as RCP products?”
I don’t. Only an idiot would fail to know what I am presenting: the average of those voter polls that qualify for inclusion by RCP. Even if the results make you unhappy, you must learn to live with them.
Why do you think that polls of voters consistently show a worse performance by Obama than polls of all adults? Do you think it is a matter of bias, or a conspiracy, or…what?

And they are not predictions. They are polling results. Nowhere on the Rasmussen page did he refer to the results as predictions.
___________________________________
You missed the point, these polling results from Rasmussen are remarkable only for how inaccurate they were.

Prediction are when the Obama administration predicts the unemployment rate if the stimulus bill is passed
_________________________________
Nonsense, you still haven’t read the report and if you did, you quite obviously didn’t understand what you read.

Here is how Rasmussen performed in some very recent elections:
Rasmussen:
54% McDonnell
41% Deeds
Election Results:
59% McDonnell
41% Deeds
Rasmussen:
46% Christie
43% Corzine
Election Results:
49% Christie
45% Corzine
_________________________________
Sorry, these POLLING RESULTS are only remarkable in how inaccurate they were.

Sorry, these POLLING RESULTS are only remarkable in how inaccurate they were.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 21, 2009 10:44:29 PM
From Rasmussen’s web site:
“This statewide telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters in New Jersey was conducted by Rasmussen Reports October 29, 2009. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.”
They were not “remarkably” inaccurate at all. With NJ, Rasmussen was within the margin of error. With Virginia, Rasmussen was outside the margin of error by 2% concerning McDonnell.

Simply not true . .. show me where President Obama blames recent worsening of the job situation on Bush. Quote, source and date please.
————————-
I have not found any direct quotes yet
Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | Nov 21, 2009 10:44:02 PM
Exactly . ..

Scott Rasmussen on The O’Reilly Factor, the day before the NY 23rd congressional district election said, “We haven’t polled there, but what I can see from other polls makes it looks like Hoffman, the conservative party candidate, is going to win fairly comfortably.”
Hoffman lost by 4 percentage points. Whoops.
But a much more telling tidbit – Bill O’Reilly introduced Rasmussen with this whopper: “Crack pollster Scott Rasmussen, who I will remind everybody, hit the Obama election a year ago, right on the nose, when all the other pinheads were wrong.”
Rasmussen didn’t correct O’Reilly’s “error.”

Yet as health-care reform sputters and lurches toward an uncertain finish line, the question is understandable. Foreigners see a Democratic Party that supposedly is alarmed by climate change, that decisively captured the White House and both houses of Congress a year ago — and yet that will send an administration to a crucial conference in Copenhagen next month with little but hopes and promises. Now there is talk that cap-and-trade legislation will wait until not just next year but the next Congress.
Meanwhile, more than a year after his electoral triumph, President Obama has filled only 55 percent of Senate-confirmed slots in his government. He has nominated few judges, won confirmation for fewer. The principal item on the agenda of the unions that went all in for him, labor law reform, is on hold. Almost everyone agrees that America’s immigration laws are broken, yet no fix is in sight. Long after the collapse of our financial system, new systems of regulation have yet to emerge. There is no discernible trade policy.

“Gilbert police’s SWAT team, counseling services and town prosecutor’s office may have survived proposed budget cuts that would have crippled each unit, but up to 12 police personnel could lose their jobs should town leaders approve other cuts recommended by a citizen panel.
“Of the proposed cuts, the committee suggested eliminating the town’s five civilian teleserve officers and possibly nine sworn school resource police officers (SROs), which are deployed to schools within the Higley Unified School District and Gilbert Public Schools. -The Arizona Republic, AzCentral, Nov. 19, 2009

The legislation, a variety of economists say, is helping an economy in free fall a year ago to grow again and shed fewer jobs than it otherwise would. … far more jobs are being saved than created, especially among states and cities using their money to avoid cutting teachers, police officers and other workers.”
Posted by: @Octavia | Nov 22, 2009 4:01:54 AM
Reference my previous 12 posts.

“Bossier City council must decide whether to cut 80 fire and police positions. But tonight, family members of these officers are outraged. Nbc 6 reporter Karen Hopkins talked with a mother who says she’s fighting to save her son’s job.” -ArkLaTex, 11/10/09

Google ‘state job cuts’ and you’ll see even more stories of pending job cuts by states all over the country. Hundreds of thousands of unemployed state workers will undoubtedly be added to the already horrendous number of unemployed.
And yet the Obama administration continues to claim that states have shored up their losses, projects are underway and the stimulus has done it’s job. With the state-run media playing along, the President can remain confident that the ugly truth of unemployment and job losses will remain hidden.

QUITE SIMPLY THERE HAS TO BE SOME IMPORT CONTROLLS AS COUNTRIES SUCH AS CHINA ARE DUMPING ON US AND DESTROYING OUR JOB BASE,RESULTING IN A CONTINUING DETERIATION OF OUR ECONOMY.
IT IS AFFECTING ALL STAGES OF OUR JOB BASE AND OUR LIVES.I AM AFRAID THE PROVERBIAL CRAP WILL HIT THE FAN CAUSING MASSIVE CIVIL UNREST IN OUR GREAT COUNTRY.
SOMEHOW WE HAVE TO GET CONTROLL OF THE POLITICAL PROSTITUTES IN THIS COUNTRY.
THE CHINESE ARE AT WAR WITH US AND THEY ARE WINNING AS THEY FINANCIALLY DESTROYING US.

the truth about health care is very simple.
some get rich fast people who chose to sue the health care industry are failing to see the damage
all the ambulance chasers are advertising for your business for a reason.
they are getting wealthy the insurance company simply raises the cost to cover loses–and we the public get to pay the cost to make them wealthy and then we cry we cannot afford health care. fall down and play the cripple act and you will end up getting ssi. entitlements are a major source of income in the usa and a great percentage have absolutely nothing wrong with them–all this cost eventually comes to rest on the middle class working people who are becoming low income people.

Fewer than half of Iowans approve of President Barack Obama’s performance in office a year after he carried the state in the 2008 election, according to The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll.
Obama’s overall job approval slipped to 49 percent from 53percent in September. Iowans’ approval is down 19 percentage points since an Iowa Poll in January, about the time he was inaugurated.

Ah, Copenhagen. If there is a single word that can cause me to burst out sponataneously in gloating laughter, it’s the name of that wonderful town
Who’s going? Well, certainly not B. Obama, even though he will be going to nearby Oslo. He knows that he simply cannot afford to get that much egg on his face.
I want maximum press coverage of the zealous buffoons who do go, and I hope and pray that the corpulent, now-disgraced Al Gore is among them.

why are so many cities and towns facing job cuts and pending job cuts?
___________________________________
You may have missed it, but there was a huge economic breakdown in 2008 during which more and more people lost their jobs and without jobs, the amount of taxes collected fell.
This threw state and local governments into a desperate state with not enough tax money coming in to meet their budgets – hence a main focus of the Recovery and Reinvestment Plan was focused on shoring up state and local budgets – to save as many police, firefighters, health and education jobs as possible.
The financial size of the Recovery and Reinvestment Plan was cut back (largely by Republicans) before it could be passed. This turns out to have probably been a mistake, hence the job losses you refer to . ..

When President Barack Obama faces a difficult question about—for example—the deficit, he engages in a time honored tactic. Obama blames his predecessor, in his case President George W. Bush, for the problems he “inherited.”
This tactic was on display during the press conference in an exchange with CNN’s Ed
Obama Blames Bush for Deficits
Henry.
“HENRY: You’ve been very critical of President Bush doubling the national debt. And, to be fair, it’s not just Republicans hitting you. Democrat Kent Conrad, as you know, said, quote, “When I look at this budget, I see the debt doubling again.”
“You keep saying that you’ve inherited a big fiscal mess. Do you worry, though, that your daughters, not to mention the next president, will be inheriting an even bigger fiscal mess if the spending goes out of control?
“OBAMA: Of course I do, Ed, which is why we’re doing everything we can to reduce that deficit. Look, if this were easy, then, you know, we would have already had it done, and the budget would have been voted on, and everybody could go home. This is hard.
“And the reason it’s hard is because we’ve accumulated a structural deficit that’s going to take a long time, and we’re not going to be able to do it next year or the year after or three years from now. What we have to do is bend the curve on these deficit projections. And the best way for us to do that is to reduce health care costs. That’s not just my opinion. That’s the opinion of almost every single person who has looked at our long-term fiscal situation.”
The problem is, as Hotair’s Ed Morrissey points out, that’s not entirely true.
“While the deficit jumped in the last year of the Bush administration, thanks to the spending on the bailouts, deficits had declined since 2004 until then. Bush had structured his budgets to get back to balance in the next few years — although without considering the huge mandates in Medicare and Social Security.
“Obama’s plans don’t count those mandates, either — but they blow up the deficit—”
There used to be a story, no doubt apocryphal, about a newly sworn in President finding two sealed envelopes on the desk in the Oval Office. The first was marked: “To be opened during first crisis.” The envelope contained the advice: “Blame your predecessor.” The second envelope was
Obama Blames Bush for Deficits
marked: “To be opened during second crises.” The envelope contained the advice. “Prepare two envelopes.”
The point of the story is that shifting blame to the previous guy, while it works at first, will not work forever. AIG, for example, is entirely Obama’s child. Also, one successor gets to blame you for his problems. Besides, constantly complaining that “But George really did it” is kind of school-boyish and not very Presidential.

The Guardian(UK):
“The alleged emails illustrate the persistent pressure some climatologists have been under from sceptics in recent years. 
Mark Steyn:
“Yes, it’s awfully stressful having to develop models to ”hide the decline” in global temperatures, “balance the needs of the science and the IPCC”, pressure scientific journals to exclude dissenting views, and delete (illegally) material requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Zanies are reduced to hoping their Messiah will become Ronald Reagan.
Well, he could start by cutting taxes across the board and slashing the capital gains rate. Somehow I suspect it ain’t gonna happen, and so his approval among actual voters is likely to remain at or below its current level of 47%.

How many times have we heard President Barack Obama or high-ranking members of his administration lament the fact that the president “inherited” a recession?
___________________________________
Nobody is denying this is true. When the Obama administration took office the economy was in virtual economic free-fall, the economy was hemmorgging close to 700,000 jobs a month, the Dow Jones had crashed and foreclosures and bankruptcies were through the roof.
Since Obama took office, the Dow Jones is up 35%, job losses are down and the GDP showed its first signs of positive growth.

Times (UK):
The real problem may be Obama’s friends — or rather, those among his formerly most enthusiastic supporters who are now having second thoughts.
The doubters are suddenly stretching across a broad section of the Democratic party’s natural constituency. They include black congressional leaders upset by the sluggish economy; women and Hispanics appalled by concessions made to Republicans on healthcare; anti-war liberals depressed by the debate over troops for Afghanistan; and growing numbers of blue-collar workers who are continuing to lose their jobs and homes.
Obama’s Asian adventure perceptibly increased the murmurings of dissent when he returned to Washington last week, having failed to wring any public concessions from China on any major issue.
For most Americans, the most talked-about moment of the trip was not the Great Wall visit but his low bow to Emperor Akihito of Japan, which the president’s right-wing critics assailed as “a spineless blunder” and excessively deferential.

For most Americans, the most talked-about moment of the trip was not the Great Wall visit but his low bow to Emperor Akihito of Japan, which the president’s right-wing critics assailed as “a spineless blunder” and excessively deferential.
____________________________________
This was certainly the focus of right wing attack-Obama groups in America (and the ‘soap opera’ news media) – but not of any thinking Americans.
Let’s hope the country call continue to keep its head above this bottom-feeding mentality.

The real problem may be Obama’s friends — or rather, those among his formerly most enthusiastic supporters who are now having second thoughts.
___________________________________
People are allowed to think about and question decisions made by their President – this is a natural process.
What you seem to ignore is that, despite the very difficult war and economic situation, Obama continues to hold about a 50% approval rating.
This is a major accomplishment – given that a poor economy sunk someone like Reagan to below 40% during his first term. Obama is dealing with conditions worse than Reagan had to handle.

As of yesterday it was $12.011 trilion–an increase of $1.12 trillion in just ten months.
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Yes, and a major part of that increase in debt was already budgeted when Obama took office.
Heh! In case you missed it – the United States went through a major economic breakdown in 2008! Check it out.
Millions of people lost their jobs and were unable to pay taxes – many required public assistance just to make ends meet and not end up on the street. This strained government coffers.
It is VERY unfortunate that during the ‘good economic times’ the Bush administration hurtled the country further and further into debt. When the difficult times came, had we banked some money and put ourselves in a stronger positions? No, we had been left further and further into debt.

“If we could see a reduced Shakespeare summary of Obama’s presidency it would read:
Dither, dither, speech.
Foreign trip, bow, reasuure.
Seminar, summit.
Shoot a jump shot with the guys, throw out the 1st pitch in mom jeans.
Compromise, concede,close the deal.
Dithere, dither, water down, news conference. Maureen Dowd
Pretty much sums it up except she left out: bow, apologize, appease, spend, tax, backdoor deals, fake jobs, fake districts, spend, tax, war with Fox, spend, tax, apologize, appease, spend, tax.

“If we could see a reduced Shakespeare summary of Obama’s presidency i
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Sure, if Shakespeare were a terrible writer and paid no attention to real politics – but just right wing parroting points.
Dithering. We know who really ‘dithered’.
Bush and Cheney left Afghanistan simmering on the back burner for 7 years while the Taliban and al Qaeda regrouped – with serious consequences for our troops and the Afghani people.
Seven years of ‘dithering’ and Cheney has the gall to attack the President – total hypocrisy.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…oh, what’s that? He’s done reading off the teleprompter? He’s not? Okay….. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

That is why you do not hear any Democrats whining about Bush-era deficits
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You don’t hear it if you’re ideologically deaf.
The problem with the Republican Bush administration is they increased the national debt by an average of $500 BILLION dollars DURING THE ‘GOOD ECONOMIC TIMES’. The time to store away for a cold winter is during the season of plenty – unfortunately under Bush – the debt was increased. Nothing was stored away for the hard times.
Surprising Republicans would be so irresponsible – and leave the country is such poor shape for when the crisis hit.

A scientific fraud unravels before our eyes:
In one e-mail, the center’s director, Phil Jones, writes Pennsylvania State University’s Michael E. Mann and questions whether the work of academics that question the link between human activities and global warming deserve to make it into the prestigious IPCC report, which represents the global consensus view on climate science.
“I can’t see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report,” Jones writes. “Kevin and I will keep them out somehow — even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!”
In another, Jones and Mann discuss how they can pressure an academic journal not to accept the work of climate skeptics with whom they disagree. “Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal,” Mann writes.
“I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor,” Jones replies.

“The war in Afghanistan is over.”
–Nancy Pelosi, April 2005

Suddenly we have an acknowledgement that the Bush years were the “good years.”
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Bush inherited a budget that had been pulled under control and a deficit that had been cut to almost nothing – and proceeded to spend so much that the national debt increased by an average of $500 BILLION dollars for every year he was in power.
When the economy collapsed his administration had deeply indebted the country – and left it unprepared and in very poor shape to absorb the blow.

Obama approval: 48%. Gallup. Adults (not voters). Nationwide, Today.
(This calls for a ritual attack on Rasmussen, right?)
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No, it calls for a sensible comparison with another President who faced an economic recession in his first term – Ronald Reagan.
Reagan’s approval rating sunk BELOW 40% in his first term – and he won re-election.

“The doubters are suddenly stretching across a broad section
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The doubters spread across a far greater spectrum for Reagan . . . he dropped BELOW 40% approval during his first term.
Don’t be taken in by hyped up media hyperbole – as much as it suits your agenda.

Out of curiosity, where do you get 13%
Posted by: @Octavia | Nov 22, 2009 4:12:34 PM
I went to recovery dot gov and put my mouse over the bar graph. It said 13% received and 58% awarded.
I don’t vouch for the numbers.

Obama got NOTHING from China except a spanking.
EPIC FAIL.
No one respects a weenie.
Posted by: drjohn | Nov 22, 2009 4:27:40 PM
Will CNN fact-check last nights China trip “will you kiss me?” skit from SNL? Enquiring minds want to know.

Only 13% of the stimulus money has been distributed.
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That ‘roll over’ graphic of the Recover.gov page deals with one section of Recovery funds.
To see total of funds distributed, scroll down page to ‘Overview of Funding’.

Typical lame deflections to ignore the rest of the comments. Focus on the 13% to avoid the rest of the post. Blah, blah, blah. I repeat:
I have found dozens of stories about first responders threatened by budget cuts from the past 3 months but my attempts to post them have been repeatedly thwarted. That’s fine. They exist and if you are interested, you can find them on your own.
If the stimulus money has “done its job” why are states, cities and towns across America continuing to slash these jobs? Why is the stimulus money being trickled out to “shovel-ready” projects when so many cities and towns need first responders to stay on their jobs?
Only 13% of the stimulus money has been distributed. Much more is committed but committed to what? What good is a new sidewalk when the public safety is in jeopardy?
The President has not addressed this critical issue. Public safety is being threatened by 2010 budget cuts and he is busy holding a jobs conference in December.
I was against the bailout and the stimulus but since it was passed, I want the money to go to immediate needs not some future shovel ready project in a politician’s district governed by an inept vice president.

I have found dozens of stories about first responders threatened by budget cuts from the past 3 months
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There was a huge economic breakdown in 2008 during which more and more people lost their jobs and without jobs, the volume of taxes collected fell.
This threw state and local governments into a desperate state with not enough tax money coming in to meet their budgets.
Hence a main focus of the Recovery and Reinvestment Plan was focused on shoring up state and local budgets – to save as many police, firefighters, health and education jobs as possible.
It’s worth remembering, the financial size of the Recovery and Reinvestment Plan was cut back (largely by Republicans) before it could be passed.

Hence a main focus of the Recovery and Reinvestment Plan was focused on shoring up state and local budgets – to save as many police, firefighters, health and education jobs as possible.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 22, 2009 7:11:57 PM
If the stimulus money has “done its job” why are states, cities and towns across America continuing to slash these jobs? Why is the stimulus money being trickled out to “shovel-ready” projects when so many cities and towns need first responders to stay on their jobs?

“A top White House economist says spending from the $787 billion economic stimulus has already had its biggest impact on economic growth and will likely not contribute to significant expansion next year.” -JIM KUHNHENN (AP), 10/22/09
Sooooooooooo, it’s over?

If the stimulus money has “done its job” why are states, cities and towns across America continuing to slash these jobs?
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You would have to be in lah-lah land to think the Recovery and Reinvestment act was going to fix everything in a matter of 9 months!
Remember – the financial size of the Recovery and Reinvestment Plan was cut back – almost exclusively by Republicans – before it could be passed.
If that money were still in place, perhaps their would be the necessary funds to totally prop up state and local governments.
Too bad the Republicans didn’t get behind the plan.
Imagine what would have happened to first responders jobs if the Republicans had their way and blocked all of this funding – they tried hard.

“an accomplishment unparalleled in human history”?
Where were you Jake when the one described the economic development of China in these terms ?

tierra has been telling us all along that the stimulus is a four year plan that’s just building up steam. And now I find that in one more month it will have already had its biggest impact.

Do some research – last time you did though you posted incorrect information from Recovery.gov
Posted by: tierra | Nov 22, 2009 10:56:40 PM
So tell us more about how the stimulus plan is a four-year plan… love to hear all about it.

Let the SPIN begin! Pfft!!

So tell us more about how the stimulus plan is a four-year plan… love to hear all about it.
Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | Nov 22, 2009 11:06:00 PM
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If you’re claiming this isn’t a 4-year plan – provide some proof . .. you’ve heard of that right? Actual facts . . .
Heh? Concerned in OH . .. speak up . . .
dr.john? . .. young_voter . .. Peahead?